all of a sudden then, we had the impacts of sandy, a tragedy up in newtown, connecticut, and just a lot of other factors that just put a damper on the season. >> so, it is fair to say that it started better than it ended now. >> it started better than it ended. there was a lot of excitement around black friday. i mean it was almost like the super bowl. they have all this advertising, drag people out, it's the biggest event of the year come shopping, and then week after that we had the pro bowl. there was no excitement. there was no reason to come out shopping. so big bang, but it kind of waned as we went into the season. >> how much of the season is in the books now? i mean, what's still left to happen? >> there's a couple of big days still coming. i think this weekend is a big weekend as people redeem gift cards, go into the stores, exchange items for what they're looking for. hopefully get that add-on sale and people start to take advantage of the clearance sale, i would say, though, 95% of it is in the books. we've probably got some strong days ahead of us, though, that could move it